Africa

Art of the Fang people

Ivory Coast, West Africa
Ivory Coast, West Africa

Q:  I bought this mask at Marrakesh, in a shop full of articles of South-Saharian Africa: Benin bronzes, Dogon windows, Igbo, Fang or Punu masks… even some python or leopard skins. I bought this one at the same time I bought a fang mask but I don’t know who made this one.  Josema, 764

A:  It seems to be a Fang also, but simply and quickly made. The design is great… and I think most collectors would enjoy seeing it on their wall. It looks so West African. One shouldn’t have to pay a lot for a mask like this because it is unlikely it’s really old, used, or even made to be worn by a tribesman. In fact, many African masks are made in workshops outside the country from which their style originates. B

3 Comments

  • Josema

    Thanks for the information but the fang people is not from Ivory Coast, is from South Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
    Also thanks because i had another mask misidentified like igbo and i have seen in your web it’s a Galoa mask like the post 653

  • josema

    I retuned to Marrakesh, to the same shop and i’ve seen another similar masks: same face style but with different horns or without horns. I asked the seller and he told me that the masks were from the Kwelé people, from Gabon- Cameroon.

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